Royal Baby inspiration! The most unusual royal names

IfPrince Harry andDuchess Meghan go for something a little different when it comes to naming their baby, they won’t be the first royal couple to do so. Let's take a trip down memory lane to find out some of the most unique - and quirky -royal baby names over the years. From Princess Eugenie to Princess Leonore, and Savannah Phillips, these are the names that might have raised eyebrows at the time but seem completely normal now. Keep reading to discover some unique boys and girls names courtesy of the Royals, and if you're expecting a baby yourself, you might get some unique ideas…

Peter and Autumn Phillips broke with British royal tradition and chose the name ‘Savannah’ when they welcomed their daughter, the Queen’s oldest great-grandchild, in 2010. Savannah has increased in popularity during the last 20 years but in history, it’s never been a popular moniker, especially among royalty.

Princess Martha of Norway raised eyebrows when she announced the name of her eldest daughter in 2003. While Maud might be an unusual name still in the UK, it’s relatively common in Norway. The same can’t be said for this little princess’s middle name ‘Angelica’. Martha continued with surprise middle names with her other two daughters, naming them Leah Isadora and Emma Tallulah.

In Britain, the name Liam conjures up a member of Oasis (or One Direction!) rather than a royal prince but this was the name chosen by Prince Felix and Princess Claire (pictured) for their baby son in 2016. Felix and Claire are an incredibly stylish pair so, you never know, perhaps little Prince Liam will start a new trend.

She’s got a grandmother who’s a famous fashion designer, a grandfather who’s a billionaire and a dad who’s a German prince, so no wonder Princess Talita Von Furstenberg has a name that’s suitably exotic. The 21-year-old has modelled for Dolce & Gabbana and just been named as a muse for DvF so we expect to be seeing her unusual name a lot more in the future.

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Raphaël Casiraghi

The daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco, Charlotte Casiraghi (pictured), opted for the painterly name Raphaël when she gave birth to her first son with then-boyfriend Gad Elmaleh in 2013 (also pictured).

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Balthazar Casiraghi

Charlotte Casiraghi and her partner Dimitri Rassan also chose a very spectacular name for her second son, born in 2018. Though unusual Balthazar does have royal connotations - he was rumoured to be one of the three kings who visited Jesus and, in Hebrew, the name means “protect the king”.

Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander is the eight-year-old son of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark. While the name ‘Vincent’ would be an unexpected choice for a British royal, he could have ended up with a much more unusual name. Bookmakers in Denmark had Old Norse names, Valdemar and Knud, as favourites.

Achileas-Andreas is quite the mouthful so no wonder this Greek prince prefers to go by the name ‘Achi of Greece’ on Instagram.

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Princess Eugenie

When Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew welcomed their second daughter in 1990, no one expected them to name her Eugenie. Though this had been the name of one of Queen Victoria’s granddaughters, the moniker had fallen out of fashion for years.

Seven-year-old Estelle is a royal rarity when it comes to names – she doesn’t share it with any other princesses, past or present. It’s rumoured that her parents, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden, chose this unusual moniker to honour her distant relative, the humanitarian Estelle Bernadotte.

The name Leonor was the go-to name for European princesses in the 15th century but it fell out of favour until Felipe and Letizia of Spain resurrected it in 2005. Since then, it’s had a bit of a revival with Queen Mathilde of Belgium and Princess Madeleine of Sweden both choosing variations of it for their daughters.

Unusual as it is, it’s not the first time there’s been a Norwegian royal called Sverre. The 14-year-old prince is named after a 12th-century king.

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Zara Tindall

Zara might be quite a common name in Britain – but it’s not among the royals. It was her uncle, Prince Charles, who helped choose the name. "The baby made a rather sudden and positive arrival," Princess Anne reportedly said, "And my brother thought Zara was an appropriate name." The Greek meaning of Zara means “light” and “bright like the dawn”.